Different levels of driving by vehicles with a driving control system are becoming increasingly commonplace. Driving control systems include several hardware and software modules to perform different aspects of driving a vehicle. Successful driving using a driving control system involves a multitude of potential vehicle actions and while a particular driving control system may get a person to their destination, the quality of the ride may be neither comfortable nor elegant. The concept of elegance may be considered the achievement of “human-like” driving experience. For example, a ride in a vehicle may be considered comfortable, but not elegant. As an example and not by way of limitation, a vehicle, when taking a turn, it may be comfortable to take the turn at 10 miles per hour, but it may be elegant to take the same turn at 25 miles per hour. These considerations may affect whether the driving control system directs the vehicle to accelerate, maintain speed, or decelerate while navigating a particular section of a route. The hardware and software modules lead to different types of driving characteristics. Based on changes in these driving characteristics, new versions of the driving control system may be updated and tested periodically evaluated.
Based in part on these considerations, different versions of driving control systems may be tested, but there is a lack a statistical method for evaluating driving performance, identifying areas of improvement for the driving control system, and adjusting driving control systems.